Spanish lessons

10. Hold-up

With her hands trembling and her knees not providing the usual support for the rest of her body, Charlotte walked up the stairs to the rooftop area. Her heart felt like it would burst any second from the combination of joy and pain she was feeling.

The remaining minutes with Harry were counted, and the pulsing in her veins, like the ticking of a clock, reminded her constantly.

Despite the shortness of their encounter, Charlotte had never felt something so intense. There was a connection between them that she hoped wouldn't be lost with their spatial separation tomorrow. But Charlotte didn't dare to put her hopes up, he still was an international rockstar and on top of that currently on tour. Definitely some time would pass until they could see each other again. And from what he had said earlier in the parc, he too wanted to see her again.

A few minutes had passed with Charlotte standing at the railings, looking out over Barcelona at night, when she felt a soft touch to her arm. She turned around and there he was.

Harry had hesitated walking up the stairs to the rooftop of the hotel. Which was stupid, because the minutes he had left with Charlotte were counted and there weren't many. But once he was up there, they would have to say goodbye. His heart felt like Schrodinger's cat. Wanting to see her and not wanting to see her because seeing her meant seeing her for the last time, at least for a while. Finally, just as the clock stroke midnight, he took the final steps up and there she was, standing at the railings.

Quietly, to not alarm her, he closed the distance between them. With a slow motion, he reached out and touched her arm to make her aware of his presence. As if she hadn't felt it the moment he had entered the same space. There was no escaping him, he was the kind of person who changed the vibes of a room the moment he entered it.

"Hello, love." Once more, the deep but warm sound of his voice sent chills down Charlotte's spine. She would miss hearing that.

Turning around, Charlotte smiled at him. "Hey."

Their bodies found each other on their own and within seconds, they were standing in a tight embrace. 

Harry tried to take in everything he could get from Charlotte. Her smell, the warmth of her only slightly sunburnt skin, the feeling of stroking her long blonde waves, the tiny crinkles that had formed around her eyes from laughing. He tried to capture the essence of her being in a memory and lock it up in his mind to remember him of these summer days.

From the way she was holding on to him, he guessed she was doing the same. There was an unspoken, mutual understanding between them to not disturb their bubble, just for a little more.

"Promise you won't forget me?" Charlotte knew he had already given that promise earlier. But she couldn't think of anything else that would give her a sense of security that her feelings and the vulnerability she had shown him were in safe hands.

The night sky provided the appropriate atmosphere. An in-between, at the zenith between dusk and dawn, like someone had pressed pause on a song they didn't want to end.

"Of course not, love. How could I?"

They had switched to a lying down position on one of the lounge chairs, Harry holding Charlotte gently in his arms while her head rested on his chest.

Charlotte wasn't sure if minutes or hours had passed since one of them had last said something.

"Maybe I'll write a song about you. Would you like that? I have to admit there were bits and pieces flying around in my head these past couple of days, but I wasn't sure if you would be okay with that." Harry wouldn't tell her that one of the lines was actually from George Michaels' "Faith" and involved physical contact. They weren't there yet and he respected that.

Charlotte's eyes widened and she felt tears welling up.

"I would be honored."

After a while of comfortable silence, soft kisses to Charlotte's hair and airy fingertips tracing over the mermaid and the rose, Harry suddenly started to chuckle.

"What's funny?"

"Just thought about the weird ways in which life sometimes happens. If it hadn't been for my daughter, which initially caused me a lot of pain with her mother leaving, I wouldn't have experienced this joy with you the past few days. I'm very grateful for that."

"So am I. Not for the sad part, of course. But I had a lot of fun too, to say the least."

"Would you give me your address? I can send you postcards from every city I go to over the next weeks."

"That would be lovely! But I don't have anything to write on with me and my phone is in my room."

Harry didn't even blink an eye and gave her his room number.

"You can write it down and slide it under my door later. An old-fashioned version of a slide into my dm's, if you will."

Even though she didn't feel like it, Charlotte couldn't help but laugh at his joke.

"Okay, I will."

"Good."

And then, a yawn escaped her mouth.

"Oh god, I'm sorry. I probably should go to bed, we leave pretty early tomorrow and I haven't packed a thing yet. But I don't want to leave." The you at the end was held back by Charlotte's voice breaking.

"It's okay. I should get some rest, too. The show is tomorrow evening and the whole day is usually pretty busy. And we will see each other again someday, yeah?"

"Pinky promise."

Reluctantly, they both stood up.

Harry pulled Charlotte into another one of his hugs, almost completely enclosing her.

The moment they separated, Charlotte couldn't wait any longer.

An almost inaudible please fell from her lips, desperate for the taste of his.

Harry wanted to search Charlotte's eyes for an expression of consent, but she had already closed them.

He slid his hand into her hair slowly and, with the most tender pulling motion he could manage, closed the distance between them.